Include those who will be directly involved in the use of technology and also include those who are constructively skeptical.
Include those who will be directly involved in the use of technology and also include those who are constructively skeptical.
Planning is a process of creating consensus. Get a balance of proponents and skeptics on the planning committee. Care should be taken to avoid those who are destructively skeptical and those who are unrealistic advocates. The purpose is to develop a reasonable plan, not to spend time connecting those who will fight all attempts to come to consensus. The committee should share enthusiasm about writing the plan but come to the table with differing points of view.
The planning group should be representative of the district, be comprised of interested parties, and involve people who will be directly effected by the plan. The committee should be open-ended and not closed to interested parties. Core personnel should be asked to serve on the committee, but anyone who wants to be on the committee should be welcomed. While the committee will be responsible for writing the improvement plan, it is important that the committee represents the various factions that are impacted by the decisions of the committee. Air the plan at its various stages in public. Don't write the plan in isolation.
Planning doesn't happen overnight. It takes commitment in the form of time and effort from all the members of the planning team. The first order of business for the planning team should be to establish a communication plan. Identify key individuals, groups, etc. and devise a method whereby they will receive on-going communication. Determine who is responsible for reaching each person or group and make sure that time is set aside to listen to feedback. When the committee gets feedback, discuss it openly and honestly but avoid situations in which all details and aspects of the plan are taken to a vote.
Significant collaboration among your learning community
It makes sense to have the people that will implement a plan help develop it. Technology funds are best spent on technology that people are going to use effectively. Your best advocates will be those teachers who understand the reason for using the technology and have participated in molding the educational improvement described in your plan. If your constituents and clients have helped to define your educational improvement, you will have the necessary community support to get past the pain of innovation. If the educational community owns the plan, they will make it work. To assure ownership all stakeholders in the learning community should be included, including parents, students, staff members, community members, and business leaders.
Advice:
Your plan should briefly describe how the planning committee was formed, what groups are represented on it and how the committee obtained input from all groups that were involved.
Questions:
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